Book News

A few book releases in the not-too-distant future...

Enoch's Ghost: The second in the Oracles of Fire series by Bryan Davis. Comes out July 1.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: It's official! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's magical Harry Potter series, will be released on July 21, 2007. In the February 1 announcement from the book's publisher, Lisa Holton, President of Scholastic Children's Books, said, "We are thrilled to announce the publication date of the seventh installment in this remarkable series. We join J.K. Rowling's millions of readers--young and old, veterans and newcomers--in anticipating what lies ahead."

First Among Sequels: It’s been fourteen years since Thursday Next pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and Friday is now a difficult sixteen year old. However, Thursday’s got bigger problems. Sherlock Holmes is killed at the Rheinback Falls and his series is stopped in its tracks. And before this can be corrected, Miss Marple dies suddenly in a car accident, bringing her series to a close as well. When Thursday receives a death threat clearly intended for her written self, she realizes what’s going on—there is a serial killer on the loose in the Bookworld. And that’s not all—The Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Naturally, Thursday must travel to the outer limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to triumph against increasing odds. Released July 24.

Night of the Soul-Stealer: Third in the Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney. Thomas Ward is the apprentice for the local Spook, who captures witches and drives away ghosts. As the weather gets colder and the nights draw in, the Spook receives an unexpected visitor. Tom doesn't know who the stranger is or what he wants, but the Spook suddenly decides it's time to travel to his winter house, Anglezarke. Tom has heard it will be a bleak, forbidding place, and that menacing creatures are starting to stir somewhere on the moors nearby. Can anything prepare Tom for what he finds there? What if the rumors about the evil beast called the Golgoth are true? And how much danger will Tom be in if the secrets the Spook has been trying to hide from the world are revealed? Released September 1.

Isle of Swords: Wayne Thomas Batson's newest book. 'Nuff said.

Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want: Foo--the place between the possible and the impossible--is a realm inside the minds of each of us that allows mankind the power to hope and imagine and dream. The powerfully gifted Leven Thumps, once an ordinary fourteen-year-old boy from Oklahoma, has been retrieved from Reality and sent to stop those in Foo who are nurturing dark dreams and plan to invade and rule Reality. Hold on to your popcorn! In book three, the war to unite Foo and Reality has begun. Not only must Leven race across Foo to stop the Secret before the deadly truth is revealed, he must travel to the island of Lith, the home of the Want--the manic dreammaster who can give Leven the gifts he needs against a foreboding army of rants and other Foo beings. If you are willing and have the courage, you're invited for the next adventure in book three, Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want. Travel to Sycophant Run, survive the Lime Sea, and discover a new gateway to Foo and a threat beneath the soil. The fooseeable adventure will keep Foo fans captivated and wanting more! Released September 25.

Empire of Ivory: Fourth in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. Released September 25.

Snakehead: What goes up must come down, and when we last saw Alex Rider, he was as up as can be—in outer space. When he crash lands off the coast of Australia, the Australian Secret Service recruits him to infiltrate one of the ruthless gangs operating across South East Asia. Known as snakeheads, the gangs smuggle drugs, weapons, and worst of all, people. Alex accepts the assignment, in part for the chance to work with his godfather and learn more about his parents. What he uncovers, however, is a secret that will make this his darkest and most dangerous mission yet . . . and that his old nemesis, Scorpia, is anything but out of his life. From the slums of Bangkok to the Australian Outback to the middle of the Timor Sea, Snakehead is Alex Rider’s most action-packed adventure yet. Released November 13.

The Search for the Red Dragon: The second in James A. Owen's Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series. Some inspired plot elements and character elements. Should be a good read. Arrives January 1, 2008.

Attack of the Fiend: Fourth in the Last Apprentice series. Released March 1, 2008.